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Due to a twist of fate U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault (Zac Efron) manages to survive his third tour of Iraq. He believes his lucky charm is a photo of a smiling woman he found in the rubbles of the war. Finding it hard to connect with his family and the life he had before Iraq, Thibault decides to go and find the stranger he calls his angel and thank her for saving his life.

After a long, long walk across America with only his dog Zeus as a companion this silent veteran follows the clues the photo gives him to a sleepy town somewhere in the US.  But when he stands in front of Beth (Taylor Schilling), the woman from the photo, he can’t find the words to tell his story and ends up taking a job as a handy man for her and her mother (Blyth Danner).

Of course after initial problems they fall in love and all would be good if there wasn’t a vile ex-husband who is the sheriff of the town and a son who is struggling with being a child of divorce.

The Lucky One is another of Nicholas Sparks novels that has made it to the silver screen and it is sure to pull flocks of couples on date night to watch ‘true love’ unfold. Sadly unlike his other stories  The Notebook or even Nights in Rhodante , The Lucky One seems overly predictable and lacks any major twists to keep the viewers interested.  However the scenery is beautiful and always bathed in warm golden light, the actors good and Zac Efron holds his own and has an undeniable screen presence. At times it is a little hard to overlook the age difference between the lead actors, but then cougars seem to be the flavour of the past few years and often the scenes become more steamy and sexy than you would expect from a Nicholas Sparks inspired film.

For those of you who have read the book do not expect to find the plot to be the same, for one the wonderful dog Zeus gets very little screen-time and the relationship between man and dog, so important in the book, only plays a minor role, even the hero is not the same in the end.

The Lucky One is beautifully filmed and director Scott Hicks has done a solid job in creating a romantic date-night film, but sadly something always seems to be missing.

For those of you who expect another modern romance in the league of The Notebook and A Walk To Remember you will be disappointed, but if you like watching beautiful people find the happy end you believe they (and you) deserve The Lucky One will do it’s job. There is even enough drama and tragedy to help you shed a tear or two, creating a good excuse for some cuddles and drinks after the film.